Apple has not shipped an InFO-PoP with side-by-side integrated die yet. This is expected to be the first one, using RDLs for the die-to-die interconnect (so different than M-Ultra series that uses silicon bridges).
The terms to search for are fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) and TSMC InFO. The chiplets come from different wafers and are reconstituted into a molded plastic wafer, allowing multiple die side-by-side. Then multiple layers of wires are built on top, terminating in a BGA.
Equipment for ion implantation already includes mini accelerators [1] [2]. The semiconductor equipment industry in general has many machines that feel like they came out of a physics lab into a semi fab. For example, plasma dry-etching or deep-reactive ion etching. EUV litho is just one of many very interesting problems--currently the bottleneck so it's talked about a lot.
You also need hundreds of other machines from Applied Materials, KLA Tencor, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, etc. Then, years of process development R&D: what temperature do we bake this layer at, how long, what profile, what atmosphere in the tool… Every process step has a large parameter set to optimize. Creating a process is a painstaking many many variable optimization slog.
Just wanted to add that since I see people only mention ASML often here. They are very important, but there is so much more to TSMC’s success.
You are absolutely correct that design costs swamp mask costs by far. For 7 nm, it costs more than $271 million for design alone (EDA, verification, synthesis, layout, sign-off, etc) [1], and that’s a cheaper one. Industry reports say $650-810 million for a big 5 nm chip.
Keep in mind, a semiconductor fab has hundreds of other machines and equipment involved, and US companies are some of the biggest suppliers (Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA-Tencor--all multi-billion dollar companies).
Lithography is definitely key, but all the equipment and process must work together.
The ASML lithography machine is just one, very important, machine out of many dozens.
A semiconductor fab process involves 100s-1000s of process steps each with dozens to hundreds of parameters.
For example, something as simple as rinsing a wafer after an etch step:
- How long to rinse
- What to rinse with (DI water, solvent, etc)
- What temperature to rinse at
- Should the temperature change over time?
- Agitated vs. non-agitated
It may sound small, but a bad rinse process will tank yields and make the whole process fail.
In a huge semiconductor company like Intel or TSMC, multiple process engineers specialize on each one of these steps out of hundreds. These are truly massive undertakings.